Location 1: El Capitan

Line 1:

-built 1926

-Charles E. Toberman

-Supposed to kickstart live theater scene

-Toberman called it “Hollywood’s First Home of Spoken Drama”

-Attracted big performers and operated for years: Clark Gable, Gertrude Lawrence, Jack Buchanan

-Toberman’s vision never took off

Line 2:

-Hit by Depression in 30s

-No one would buy play tickets

-Owners tried movies

-Manager committed suicide in balcony from financial stress

-1941: Citizen Kane premiers here; other theaters turned it down b/c connected to William Randolph Hearst

-Theater closed for 1 year, then Paramount Pictures bought building

-Hollywood Paramount Theater in 1942

Line 3:

-Disney buys it w/ help of Pacific Theaters in 1980s

-strange things happening in building

-during restoration, escalated

-Tools moved / knocked over; doors locked

-one worker disappeared for 2 days; found on balcony w/ no memory of how he got there

Line 4:

-construction ended 1991

-disney premiers The Rocketeer

-staff still knew the haunting even though people tried to brush it off

-few years later, a projectionist has bad time:

-he was a loner, obsessed with El Capitan history, glorified golden years of Hollywood

-looked over theater on balcony, imagined it was 1920s/30s

Line 5

-Projectionist got more erratic

-could hear coworkers whispering about him, wanted them to stop

-said he complained to new manager about gossip

-BUT: there was no new manager; same guy since re-opening

-Projectionist insisted that new guy had been there for weeks, that he always told him he was doing a good job

-he insisted

Line 6

-Showing didn’t start one night

-audience gets restless, finally comes out to see why

-open projectionist’s booth and see him lying on the floor

-slit his wrists; blood everywhere

-muttering: “It’s too much, I can’t do it”

Line 7

-Projectionist died on way to hospital

-nobody could find what he cut himself with

-nothing in booth or on his person

Key Dates & Names

-El Capitan Theatre built in 1926

-Built by Charles E. Toberman

-Attracted big performers: Clark Gable, Gertrude Lawrence, Jack Buchanan

-Citizen Kane premiers 1941; connected to William Randolph Hearst

-Remodeled to Hollywood Paramount Theater in 1942

-Disney & Pacific Theaters remodel in 1980s

-Construction completed: 1991; premiers The Rocketeer